Devolving bus funding to Wales 'has been a disaster for passengers and bus companies'

An industry analyst says devolving bus funding to Wales has been a 'disaster'

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Devolving bus funding to Wales has been a “disaster” for passengers and bus companies, claims a leading industry analyst.

Many services have been cut or thinned out, after the Welsh Government reduced bus funding by 25%, and now managers are braced for a big drop in payments for carrying passengers under the free travel scheme.

Councils also say they need “urgent” clarity after transport minister Edwina Hart announced that a two-year bus review, just completed, will be followed by a new review.

Chris Cheek, author of the TAS Bus Industry Monitor, wrote in trade magazine Passenger Transport: “The devolution of bus funding to the Welsh Assembly and the cuts, indecision and hesitation that have followed have been a disaster for bus operators and their customers in the principality.

“Hardly had one new system of funding… been introduced than it has been abolished and replaced by another. Meanwhile, concessionary fares reimbursement is to be cut, albeit by less than previously proposed. Quite how industry managers are supposed to run a successful business in such circumstances is difficult to see.”

He said it would be “ironic” if the success of council-owned Cardiff Bus were “undermined by politicians who espouse public ownership”.

The last two years have been “transitional” for Welsh bus services while the Labour government reviewed policy and cut funding. Last year Mrs Hart ordered the regional transport consortia, representing groups of councils, to prepare regional bus strategies by April 2014.

Now she is effectively scrapping the consortia and says unitary authorities will handle bus grants instead, from 1 April.

A Welsh Local Government Association spokesman said: “Local councils and their bus operator partners urgently require clarity from the Welsh Government on how bus services are to be funded and delivered in the future, as there are a number of capacity and contracting issues which will need to be resolved quickly in order to avoid any negative impacts being felt within Wales’ local bus services from April.”

Eluned Parrott AM, Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson, said: “Across the portfolio [held by Mrs Hart], we see a lot of change in structure. It’s not necessarily the structures that aren’t fit for purpose. We could do more by fixing the structures rather than smashing things up every time there’s a problem.”

The regional bus strategies were another example of plans not being given time to work, she said. “It scuppers the chances of success. It’s a real worry to me, because the lead times for transport management and planning are huge – particularly in rail but also in bus – but there’s constant upheaval and change.”

She feared for the future of buses where many of the passengers had free passes, especially in rural areas. “In those areas you have to travel to be able to work, go to hospital or access basic local services.”

Last month Mrs Hart announced in the Assembly that 2014-15 would be another interim year for buses, which she would use “to refresh our policy in relation to bus services and develop a new approach to funding”.

She said: “To make improvements, it is clear to me that we need to be absolutely explicit about our objectives for bus services. A priority must be to maximise the number of fare-paying passengers and the coverage of the commercial network.”

Her statement to plenary did not mention that her officials were planning to cut the budget for the Welsh Government’s flagship concessionary travel scheme from a maximum of £73.4m this year to £65m for 2014-15 – with another £4m reduction by 2016-17.

Asked about the short notice and cuts to free-travel funding, the Welsh Government said it had nothing more to add to Mrs Hart’s previous statement.

John Gould, managing director of Stagecoach South Wales, said: “I think I can speak for most operators when I say that if the level of funding is reduced in order to balance the books, there has to be a reduction or changes to the network. The minister and her officials have been made aware of this and appear to choose to disregard it.”

He said most of the routes which Stagecoach – the South Wales Valleys’ main bus provider – would have to discontinue are commercial routes, because the cut in concessionary payments would turn marginally profitable services into loss-makers. There would inevitably be “pressure on fares” in the bus industry.